President Barack Obama dodged a question on Friday about whether American troops will be part of a new NATO rapid response force in Eastern Europe set up to warn Russia that Western nations could quickly mobilize if an allied country in the region were to come under attack.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the new unit would send a clear message to potential aggressors in a thinly veiled warning to Vladimir Putin.

'Should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance,' he declared as a two-day NATO summit in southern Wales drew to a close.

But when Obama was asked point-blank if he will send troops, he talked only of financial assistance.

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Obama said Friday in Wales that the US will put part of a promised $1 billion outlay into helping NATO with its rapid-reaction force, but dodged a question about sending American troops to help

Tense: Ukrainian soldiers ride a tank as a ceasefire was drawn up with Russia and the NATO summit concluded Friday at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales

Great Britain has signaled a desire to send 3,500 soldiers in total – a number PM David Cameron later downgraded to 1,000. Canada is reportedly considering the same level of commitment.

'In Warsaw,' Obama said during a press conference in Wales, 'I announced $1 billion in our initiative. A sizable portion of that will be devoted to implementing various aspects of this.'

He discussed the need to support NATO's plan with logistical help to plan troop rotations and execute 'air policing,' saying money from Washington 'allows us to supplement it.'

'We want to make it crystal clear: We mean what we say when we talk about Article 5 commitments,' Obama pledged.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, a State Department spokeswoman told reporters that she was 'not ruling anything in or out' on the question of U.S. troop deployments under NATO's banner for the new force.

But the Associated Press wrote Wednesday that America 'will contribute troops and equipment' to the new NATO contingent.

There was no confirmation of that report when NATO announced its rapid-response plan Friday. It no longer appears accurate.

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Rasmussen
said in a press release Friday that NATO would set up a command and
control presence and a location where allies can pre-position equipment,
supplies and planners.

'NATO
will step up intelligence sharing, upgrade defence plans and hold more
short-notice exercises as well,' the announcement stated.

There
were no final decisions on where the forces would be based, but
Rasmussen said Poland, Romania and the Baltics have all indicated a
willingness to host the facilities.

British
Prime Minister David Cameron said his nation is willing to contribute
3,500 personnel to the rapid response force. He said its headquarters
could be in Poland, with forward units in the easternmost NATO member
countries and equipment stockpiled there in advance.

'We must be able to act more swiftly,' Cameron said.

The summit coincided with the start of peace talks involving Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian rebels that kicked off Friday in Minsk, Belarus.

The talks are aimed at achieving a cease-fire to bring an end to the months of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.

The two signed an agreement on a ceasefire on Friday which is due to take effect later in the day.

NATO's push to build a new rapid-reaction force signals growing impatience with Russia's incursion into Ukraine, and with that country's constant defensive military posture

U.S.
President Barack Obama, right, stood alongside British Prime Minister
David Cameron, center, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
(left) during a military jet flyover at the NATO summit

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko confirmed that envoys in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, signed theagreement.

Rebels
announced the deal separately on Twitter. Despite the ceasefire, rebels
said they were still seeking separation from Kiev.

While
Poroshenko voiced 'careful optimism' about the talks, Western leaders
remain skeptical. The U.S. and Europe have warned that they stand ready
to levy more economic sanctions on Russia, a step a top White House
official said could occur within days.

The crisis in Ukraine has been among the most pressing issues on the agenda during the NATO meetings.

While Ukraine is not part of the NATO alliance, Russia's actions have prompted fears among member countries in Central and Eastern Europe that the Kremlin could seek to make gains beyond their borders as well.

Rasmussen said the high-readiness force would give NATO a 'continuous presence' in Eastern Europe, with alliance countries contributing forces on a rotational basis.

Confronting another pressing international crisis, Rasmussen said NATO stands 'ready to help' Iraq fight back against a violent militant group, but noted that the Iraqi government has not made any such request.

Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama have been pressing their NATO counterparts to join a coalition of nations that could degrade militants from the Islamic State group.

In the two-day NATO summit, leaders discussed the situations in Ukraine and Afghanistan

The
threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)
overshadowed some of the NATO summit's official agenda. Yet the leaders
still spent a considerable amount of their time discussing the crisis in
Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko taking on a
high-profile role during the talks.

In
another signal of its commitment to protecting its members in Eastern
Europe, NATO announced that its next summit will be held in Warsaw,
Poland, in 2016.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski praised the alliance's willingness to boost its presence in the region, calling it 'a matter of key importance to Poland's security.'

'There is progress in raising NATO combat readiness,' Komorowski told reporters. He said the rapid response force would comprise up to 5,000 troops, with its command stationed in Poland.

On the sidelines of the summit, Cameron and Obama were also meeting with their counterparts to rally support for a mission to confront the Islamic State through military might, diplomatic efforts and economic penalties.

Both leaders had meetings planned Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a key regional player whose support would be crucial to defeating the militants.

Obama also met Friday morning with French President Francois Hollande.

Rasmussen suggested that NATO was unlikely to take imminent military action against the militants in Iraq, but said he could foresee the alliance engaging in a 'defense capacity-building mission' there.

The U.S. is already launching airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq, and Britain has joined up for humanitarian aid drops to besieged minority groups. Obama is weighing whether to extend the military mission into neighboring Syria, where the extremists have establisheed a safe haven.

On other fronts, alliance leaders pressed NATO countries to follow through on commitments to spend 2 percent of their nations' gross domestic product on defense. Only four NATO nations meet that threshold: the U.S., Britain, Greece and Estonia.

Komorowski said that Poland would raise its defense budget to 2 percent of GDP in 2016 and would encourage other members to increase defense spending as well.